Thomas Jefferson's front yard mystery
 

I've been trying to figure out what plant this is.

http://houdini.till-morning.net/tjcoolplant.jpg

It was a photo taken in Thomas Jefferson's front yard at Montecello.

Can anybody help me identify it?

On 22 Sep 2004 01:05:32 -0700, (HoudiniMan)
wrote:

I've been trying to figure out what plant this is.

http://houdini.till-morning.net/tjcoolplant.jpg

It was a photo taken in Thomas Jefferson's front yard at Montecello.

Can anybody help me identify it?

If you don't get answers here, you might try:

http://www.monticello.org/contact.html

On 9/22/04 4:05 AM, in article
, "HoudiniMan"
wrote:

I've been trying to figure out what plant this is.

http://houdini.till-morning.net/tjcoolplant.jpg

It was a photo taken in Thomas Jefferson's front yard at Montecello.

Can anybody help me identify it?

A true lily (Lilium) - of some sort. The height makes me think of what I
grew up calling a Tigerlily, but I don't know what the proper Latin is.

(I've lost all mine to the dreaded red lily beetles, sigh)

Cheryl

I'd like to know too, I have them in my yard.... not quite that tall yet but
they are here.

(HoudiniMan) wrote:

http://houdini.till-morning.net/tjcoolplant.jpg

It looks like an orange tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium). Some do grow
5' tall. People claim to have seen some 9' tall.

Paghat has a photo at: http://www.paghat.com/tigerlily.html

--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

It is a Turk's cap lily--Lilium superbum.
Sue
Western Maine



"S. M. Henning" wrote in message
...
| (HoudiniMan) wrote:
|
| http://houdini.till-morning.net/tjcoolplant.jpg
|
| It looks like an orange tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium). Some do grow
| 5' tall. People claim to have seen some 9' tall.
|
| Paghat has a photo at: http://www.paghat.com/tigerlily.html
|
| --
| Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
| Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

In article ,
(HoudiniMan) wrote:

I've been trying to figure out what plant this is.

http://houdini.till-morning.net/tjcoolplant.jpg

It was a photo taken in Thomas Jefferson's front yard at Montecello.

Can anybody help me identify it?

Montecello gardens aren't supposed to have anything in them that Jefferson
himself did not grow. That limits which lily this could be: American
Turk's-cap (Lillium superba) native to eastern North America & primarily
the Appalachians.

Jefferson received his specimens of the American turk's-cap (Lilium
superbum) in 1812 from Bernard McMahon, a Philadelphia nurseryman.

Jefferson also grew the pink European Turk's Cap (Lilium martagon), yellow
Canada Martagon (Lilium canadense), & the White Lily later known as the
Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum).

Here's the Center for Historic Plants website full of articles about
Jefferson's gardens:
http://www.twinleaf.org/
Twin Leaf Journal Online is maintained by The Center for Historic Plants
which is also a nursery. It is supposed to sell heirloom & historic plants
which Jefferson personally grew. But business being what it is, they
presently sell an Asian lily which is in mass-production for any ol'
nursery & which Jefferson never knew existed, while they do not offer the
American turk's-cap. You will probably have to track it down from a native
species specialist. I got my American turk's-caps as mere seedlings at a
Rhododendron Species Foundation sale, but they weren't this year old
enough to bloom.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

In article , "S. M.
Henning" wrote:

(HoudiniMan) wrote:

http://houdini.till-morning.net/tjcoolplant.jpg

It looks like an orange tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium). Some do grow
5' tall. People claim to have seen some 9' tall.

Paghat has a photo at: http://www.paghat.com/tigerlily.html

They look very similar but Asian varieties were not available in
Jefferson's day so are not grown at Monticello. The American Turk's-cap is
much taller than the tiger lily but otherwise so similar & so beautiful
that one wonders how or why our wonderful native lily was displaced from
American gardening when the tiger lily arrived. I don't have a webpage for
the American turk's-cap yet because mine are too young to have bloomed
yet, but someday when I have good photos of this lily in my own garden,
I'll put up the article I've already researched for it.

-paggers

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com